Chapter 47: Rebellious Dragon Son, Online...

Jiu Jiu took the wooden spoon back in her hand and sniffed the wine in a nearby jar, saying with some lingering fear:

“I thought it might cause yin-yang imbalance, turning into something neither male nor female.”

Li Changshou chuckled and shook his head, always admiring his little Shishu’s logical thinking.

“Shishu, once this furnace of dan is completed today, I’ll probably need to go into seclusion for half a year to a year to cultivate Sanmei Zhenyan.

I’ve already prepared a year’s supply of those wines for you in advance, but drinking too much isn’t good, so please use them in moderation, Shishu.

They’re on the shelf next to that jar of medicinal wine, in the usual spot.”

“Half a year?”

Jiu Jiu put away the wine pots, casually placed the empty ones on top, and walked over with her hands behind her back, speaking seriously:

“Although Sanmei Zhenyan can be cultivated from the Return to Void realm, it requires burning your essence, energy, and spirit to condense the fire seed at the beginning!

Whatever you do, don’t rush it. If you overdo practicing the technique and deplete your vital energy, ending up with deficiencies in spirit, qi, and essence, that would be disastrous!”

Li Changshou nodded with a smile and continued sorting the herbs.

Jiu Jiu yawned boredly and muttered, “I’ve been stuck at a bottleneck for the past few years, and breakthroughs in cultivation are getting troublesome.

But I’ve had situations like this before—stuck for years, and then suddenly breaking through on my own.

After a breakthrough, I’ll have to seclude myself for a few years, maybe even decades, so you might not see me, your Shishu, for a long time.”

Li Changshou laughed. “Shishu is already mainly cultivating the Wuwei Jing, right?”

“Yeah,” Jiu Jiu summoned a bamboo chair and sat by the table, listlessly sprawling on it. “Once you become an immortal, you can cultivate the Wuwei Jing too. If your aptitude is good, you could start in the Return to Void realm.

Pity…

Oh, right, I heard from Fifth Shixiong that your master has started comprehending the Wuwei Jing as well.”

“Mm, Master received the scripture from the sect’s stewards two months ago,” Li Changshou replied casually. “Actually, with your mindset, Shishu, cultivating the Wuwei Jing is the most fitting—without striving or seeking too much.”

Jiu Jiu blinked. “Little Changshou, you sound just like our Shizun.”

Li Changshou said, “Earlier, Jiuxu Shibo gave me a copy of the first volume of the Wuwei Jing. Aren’t these just the meanings from the scripture?”

“Oh, I see.”

Jiu Jiu murmured, then quietly watched Li Changshou sort the herbs, gradually becoming lost in thought…

A moment later:

“Little Shoushou… you’re actually quite good-looking… hee hee hee… how did I not notice before?”

“Hmm?”

Li Changshou, who was about to start refining the dan, turned his head and saw that Shishu had fallen asleep on the table, still mumbling in her dreams.

After becoming an immortal, her immortal body was flawless; even with her medium-length hair left untended year-round, it was smooth, black, and shiny.

With just a simple phoenix-tail braid, no jewelry, and no makeup, she gave off an air of simple purity.

Asleep, Shishu truly deserved descriptions like “skin like jade and cream, heart clear and spirit translucent.”

Pity she was so lively when awake.

Shaking his head with a smile, Li Changshou quietly stepped out of the dan room and admired the small spirit fish he was raising in the yin-yang fish-shaped pond, waiting for Jiu Jiu to wake from her nap.

After all, he needed her help, borrowing her pure immortal power for refining dan, so he couldn’t be too harsh on his little Shishu.

Two days later.

After refining the dan, Li Changshou temporarily sealed the dan room and only activated the arrays within three li around it.

After seeing Jiu Jiu off, he went to find Ling’e to inform her about his seclusion.

For this seclusion, Li Changshou aimed to fully condense the fire seed of Sanmei Zhenyan, which would take about half a year.

Ling’e, who was wearing loose training clothes and studying herb-scattering techniques under the willow tree, looked puzzled…

“Shixiong, you’re not secluding yourself in the dan room this time?”

“Cultivating Sanmei Zhenyan can easily cause explosions,” Li Changshou said with a smile. “I’ll make a small wooden raft later and seclude myself on the lake—that’ll be safer.”

Ling’e blinked gently, seeming hesitant to speak.

Li Changshou placed a few porcelain bottles in her hands and instructed her on the usage and dosage of each dan.

After some internal deliberation, the young Ling’e quietly asked:

“Shixiong, do you need to hide Sanmei Zhenyan?

Isn’t this technique really powerful?”

Li Changshou lightly tapped her forehead, not using any force.

Even though they were face-to-face, he used a voice transmission to explain in detail:

“Have you forgotten everything I taught you these past few years?

Sanmei Zhenyan was granted by Jiuxu and Jiu Jiu’s Shizun, so deliberately hiding it would only arouse more suspicion.

What counts as a trump card is something others can’t think of or guess, based on the information you usually reveal—not just something defined by its power.”

Ling’e stuck out her tongue and lowered her head, obediently listening.

Li Changshou took out two more porcelain bottles and transmitted: “Put these two bottles in front of Master’s door. They’re dan I refined for Master, with effects to purify turbidity and restore clarity.

Don’t try to taste them yourself—you’d be burst by the dan’s power.”

Ling’e brightened up. “Then if Master takes them, won’t he…”

“It’s difficult,” Li Changshou shook his head with a soft sigh and strolled into the forest to prepare the small wooden raft he’d need.

Lan Ling’e opened a jade bottle and sniffed it; a surge of pure yuan qi hit her face.

She gently inhaled, and her whole body felt light-headed and dizzy, so she hurried back to her room to meditate and resolve the medicinal power.

Li Changshou chuckled at the sight, found a patch of old forest, rolled up his sleeves, and got to work.

Two days later…

“What’s that noise?”

Lan Ling’e, who had just woken from meditation, got up and looked out the wooden window. Her mouth fell open, and her pretty forehead was lined with black lines…

‘I’ll make a small wooden raft later.’

Recalling Shixiong’s earlier words, and looking at the fifty-zhang-long “simple” ship that had just been launched on the lake, Lan Ling’e couldn’t help but slap her forehead.

Did Shixiong have some misunderstanding about the words “small” and “big”?

Lan Ling’e glanced down at the curves of her training clothes and felt her mouth twitch slightly.

That jerk of a Shixiong, he must have…

Been influenced by Jiu Jiu Shishu and lost his sense of normal scale!

Actually, Li Changshou wasn’t someone who focused on luxury; when making gadgets, he prioritized practicality.

The wooden raft was just simple timber pieced together, with no prohibitions, so in terms of crafting difficulty, it was indeed a gadget.

For a seclusion spot, it needed basic warning arrays, soundproofing arrays, and anti-scouting arrays, and to accommodate the array bases for these, some space was necessary.

Beyond that, he had a few small designs.

The two-story ship had seven identical rooms, all interconnected, each with a meditation cushion.

Later, during seclusion, he’d activate the surrounding arrays and place paper figures in each room.

If anyone triggered the arrays, the prohibitions on the paper figures would activate instantly, transforming them into his likeness—indistinguishable from the real thing!

It was the perfect item for guarding against ambushes!

Pity the design wasn’t flawless yet—there was still a one-in-seven chance of being caught…

“Ling’e, I’m starting my seclusion now.”

Receiving Li Changshou’s voice transmission, Lan Ling’e hurried to the door and waved to him on the “ship.”

Li Changshou formed hand seals, and layers of arrays activated on the wooden raft, shrouding a large area of the lake below and making the raft blur within the layers of light membranes…

Soon, a bit of white mist appeared on the water’s surface, and Lan Ling’e could no longer see where her Shixiong was.

Li Changshou placed paper figures in each room one by one, then quietly went to a secluded cabin, fumbled in the corner, opened a hidden compartment, and below was the clear lake water…

He formed a seal and cast an illusion technique, transforming into a spirit fish, silently diving into the water and heading toward the depths below, also covered by layers of arrays, leaving only the seven paper figures lying in the various cabins.

The main reason for making the raft so large was to ensure the arrays could cover the area underwater.

And below was Li Changshou’s third seclusion spot.

Back when Master had brought young Ling’e up the mountain, he had secluded himself here, refining the Youming Cold Fire to a minor success…

Water of the five elements counters fire, so cultivating a fire technique underwater was an excellent way to prevent excessive fire qi from causing self-explosion.

It was just that…

The originally lush Xiaoqiong Peak had suddenly lost a small patch of trees.

…

At the Donghai Crystal Palace.

‘How dare you, Ao Yi!

To speak so boldly, showing no respect for your elders, shaming our clan’s might, and defaming our clan’s honor!

Do you know, do you know what grave offense this is!’

In the vast Second Prince’s Hall, the young dragon Ao Yi was bound to an iron pillar by chains, his eyes tightly shut, with echoes of that day’s angry scoldings ringing in his ears.

He smirked coldly, enduring the stinging pain on his back, his gaze as firm as ever that day.

Ao Yi now found the Crystal Palace utterly absurd and laughable.

When he stood at the victory celebration banquet that day, facing his father the king who had been feigning sleep with narrowed eyes, and said:

‘Your child wishes to join the immortal sects and study under the Three Teachings’ sages!’

The faces of those dragons—shocked, incredulous, and quickly twisting in distortion…

The cries of treason, shame to the dragon clan, nonsense…

The surging auras of those dragon experts nearly crushed this ten-year-old young dragon on the spot!

Those who scolded him that day were all his father’s brothers or even older dragons, so they had the right to berate this nephew.

The sea clan ministers and the dragon generals not of the Dragon King’s bloodline kept silent, yet their eyes conveyed utter contempt.

To seek a sage’s tutelage was deemed treasonous;

To go out and study was seen as betraying the dragon clan.

How ridiculous, truly ridiculous…

“Ridiculous to the extreme!”

Ao Yi couldn’t help but shout in anger, his handsome face full of pain!

The iron pillar behind him emitted a chilling force, with ice spikes piercing into his fair, smooth back, making him tremble all over.

But his gaze remained clear, his resolve undiminished!

A moment ago, his mother had just left, earnestly advising him to admit his fault soon…

‘My son, isn’t our clan’s methods enough for you to learn? Aren’t our clan’s treasures enough for you to use?

Why must you do something so foolish, and say such outrageous things in front of all those uncles and elders?

You want to join a sage’s sect, but do you know that aside from Jiejiao, the other sage sects won’t accept dragon clan disciples!

That Chan Jiao elder back then even took in a bastard offspring of a dragon as a disciple and used a supreme treasure to strip away the last of our dragon clan’s destiny and place it on that bastard.

Such humiliation—how can our clan forget it?

My son, who has bewitched your heart?’

Ao Yi knew all too well what his mother said, and he knew the truth behind it.

Chan Jiao’s one of the Twelve Golden Immortals, Huanglong Zhenren, was clearly of ancestral dragon bloodline. Back then, he was gravely injured and ended up at Kunlun Mountain, where the yet-to-become-sages Sanqing took him in as a pet dragon.

In ancient times, before the sages emerged, the dragon clan saw this as a disgrace and cut ties with Huanglong Zhenren, removing him from the dragon registry.

Later, when the Sanqing became sages, the dragon clan couldn’t bring themselves to flatter Huanglong Zhenren and instead spread rumors within the clan, labeling him a ‘bastard.’

As for the sage sects not accepting dragon disciples…

After the Sanqing became sages, a group of dragon experts brought young dragons to Jin’ao Island to seek discipleship, treating the sages with great respect.

But upon hearing that the lowest-threshold master, Tongtian Jiaozhu, would only accept the dragons’ most outstanding disciples under his personal disciples—not directly under him—the dragon experts turned and left, feeling it was intentional humiliation…

What is absurd? That is absurd!

Ao Yi trembled lightly as the glow on the iron pillar behind him gradually faded.

I, Ao Yi, must hold on.

Only as the Dragon King’s second prince, by completely humbling myself and joining a mid-tier immortal sect like Duxian Men…

Even if I have to kneel outside Duxian Men for ages and become a mere registered disciple…

Can I shatter the dragon clan’s pointless pride and tear apart their twisted self-respect!

If these humiliations still can’t awaken the drunken dragon clan, then I’ll use the sages’ methods to stand at the pinnacle of all spirits!

By then, I’ll come back and ask those ancient lords…

What is the true path for the dragon clan!

Taking a breath, Ao Yi opened his mouth and shouted:

“Release me—”

“I want to see Father!”

“I want to go to Duxian Men to study the Dao!”

Outside the hall, a group of maidservants had teary eyes, their beautiful faces full of heartache, but they were blocked by the immortal flood dragon soldiers and couldn’t approach the Second Prince at all.